The expression “northern children” is to be understood as follows: in the north, roasted barley flour is scarce, and consequently the inhabitants eat small amounts of turnips. Once, there were some children there who, being hungry and wishing to eat roasted barley flour, asked their mother for food. SInce she had no roasted barley flour, she offered them fresh turnip, which they refused. The she offered them dried turnip, but they did not want that either, so she then give them cooked turnip. But they turned this down as well. Finally she offered them frozen cooked turnip, whereupon they turned away with a great feeling of nausea, exclaiming, “Everything is turnips!”
如是我等，见闻忆念世间安乐，一切皆应作是念云，此是世间，此亦世间，此皆是苦，非可治疗，发呕吐心。
Likewise, with respect to whatever worldly happiness is seen, heard of, or remembered, you must, as the Kadampa teachers have said, generate the same feeling, thinking, “This is the world,” “This also is the world”, “Everything is suffering,” and “I want nothing to do with it”.
Yes, agree with Master Ri-Chang metaphor too . If we thought that practicing Buddhism is for the purpose of a better current life only, then the attractions of the world will distract us from practice. However, if we understand that the effect of practicing Buddhism is a better life not only for ourselves but we will also be able to help others around us, then not only will we not think practice is a waste of time, in fact, we will feel that we don’t have enough time to practice
The above story is from a public Q&A session with Master Xing Yun. The story always reminded me how I should reflect upon my own behaviour and habits, before I impose my standards on my children or even staff.
It helps me in a problem I have - expecting a higher standard of my children and people around me while being unaware of my own deficiencies when in fact I should be looking at improving myself first.
This analogy that different people have different sicknesses and will need different types of medicine helps me to be less dogmatic and more receptive to other ways of practice.
Here is a story on the rescue of the Thai boys from the cave that comes with a Buddhist angle:
As more news came out of Thailand, it turns out the coach, Ekkapol Chanthawong, had trained as a Buddhist monk for 12 years.
“He could meditate up to an hour,” Ekkapol’s aunt, Tham Chanthawong, said. “It has definitely helped him and probably helps the boys to stay calm.”
Master Ri-Chang gives examples of when 净信心 happens.
以我们现在来说，譬如说：你听见了佛觉得好，好是好，对不起，好他的，你心里上面没有这个感受。然后人家告诉你念佛，欸，到念佛了以后啊，你就得到这个念佛的殊胜的功德，或者有什么感应，或者什么啊，居然一个病怎么弄也弄不好，医生说：“你那个绝症！”结果你念佛念好了。啊！自己觉得，这个信心，就是这样。或者你听懂那个道理，觉得它能够净除你的烦恼，你照着去做，欸，这个烦恼居然抵销，把它净除掉了。啊！那个时候你对这个道理啊─能够净化你内心烦恼，跟这个法相应的，这种叫净信(p62) 心，这样。
taken from Lamrim Commentary Track 90B
My take is that when one experiences the benefits of following Buddha’s teachings, one’s faith in the teachings will naturally strengthen and eventually become unshakeable.
I observe that in many instances we tend to conflate many issues into a big, complex problem and then get frustrated that there is no solution available.
Master Ri-Chang talks about the importance of thinking and planning the steps before we do anything - 次第. This is in contrast to rushing into the problem and ending up frustrated and agitated that we are getting nowhere.
A reminder to us on our Buddhist Practice and equally applicable in our daily life.
shared by my Lamrim class 班长, a story of love for one’s mother:
I am not sure whether it is based on a true story.
However, there are many learnings one can get.
Chief among them for me is how a parent can best teach the next generation by setting a good example.
what is your learning from watching the video?
I like this story that Master Ri-Chang brought up.
The gist of which is:
There was a hungry ghost beating a corpse. When asked why, the ghost replied that the corpse was his previous life and he had busied himself keeping it well fed and taken care of and all it resulted in was sending himself to hell.
There was then a heavenly being prostrating himself to another corpse that was thin and shrivelled. When asked why, the heavenly being replied that the corpse was his previous life and that he is thankful to the hard work and labour put in then that resulted in him rising to heaven.
The story reminds me to focus on what is important in my life and not to be caught up in busyness for nothing.
I roughly interpret it as follow sensible orders, do not follow irrational orders.
I will say that Buddhism helps us discern the sensible orders from the irrational ones.
Venerable Ru Jun retells stories from Master Zhen-Ru and Master Ri-Chang:
A good teacher charging fees of 105 dollars versus 5 dollars learning the same thing
Guess which student is charged the higher fee: the student that has already learnt on his own or the student that is starting from scratch?
From 3:12 min to 3:45 min
The answer will be the student that has learnt on his own will be charged the higher fee of 105 dollars. This is because the teacher will have lots to do to help the student unlearn the misconceptions and bad habits that he picked up before the teacher can start his actual teaching.
Who will be able to build a house faster? The one that gets busy with work straightaway, or the one that plans first before starting work
From 3:45 min to 4:42 min
Most of us will be aware that the one that plans first will be able to build the house faster.
In fact, if we rush to do things, we will likely make mistakes and have to do re-work or worse start again.
However, my observation is that even after knowing the above logic, I am still more likely to rush into doing rather than thinking and planning ahead.
This stems from both impatience and laziness. Why laziness? I think the feeling of doing something straightaway gives one a sense of instant gratification while the thought of having to plan and think makes me tired even before I start.
This story gives me hope. No matter our motivation at the beginning (it could be greed for material stuff, wishing for health or other seemingly non-altruistic, even selfish reasons), as long as we start the journey in practising Buddhism, we will gain more awareness and get the fruits of our practice.
So rather than berating myself for having self-serving reasons for learning Buddhism, I can recognise that this is an indicator of the improvement I still have to make and change it into motivation to persevere.
. If we thought that practicing Buddhism is for the purpose of a better current life only, then the attractions of the world will distract us from practice. However, if we understand that the effect of practicing Buddhism is a better life not only for ourselves but we will also be able to help others around us, then not only will we not think practice is a waste of time, in fact, we will feel that we don’t have enough time to practice 
